The Narrator

The unnamed narrator is a Syrian man who grew up with his family on their farm near the Syrian city of Homs. The narrator has fond memories of his childhood. As an adult, he married a woman and they had a son, whom they named Marwan. The narrator also has fond memories of life in pre-War Syria with his wife and child. The narrator bemoans the fact that, due to the outbreak of war during his son’s early childhood, the violence and strife of the war will shape his son’s earliest memories.

The narrator, his wife, and their son become refugees, and they leave behind their lives in the now war-torn Syria. Together, they arrive at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in order to gain passage on a small boat that will hopefully bear them and other refugees to safety. The narrator assures his...